Record Number of AdvoCats Next Year

The semester has ended, finals are over and graduation has come and gone. The MSU Office of Admissions was very fortunate to have such a dedicated group of tour guides this year. They also worked very hard promoting our AdvoCat program across campus, and we ened with a record number of applications for the 2010 - 2011 school year! We will have more than 65 AdvoCats next year!! The largest class we have had in recent years had about 50 students, so this is quite a bit more. We want to expand the AdvoCat program to 65 students because of the volume of visitors we have seen over this last school year. As MSU admissions applications increase each year, we have more and more campus visitors and large MSU Friday visit programs, and will need even more tour guides next year. I am looking forward to such a large and energetic group next year. We had our first event of the year at the SOB Barn, an Ice Cream Social and it was a blast (even though it was snowing all day long)!

2010-2011 AdvoCat Applications Available!!

AdvoCats is a great way to get involved and build a strong resume! Each year the Office of Admissions looks for about 50 student volunteers to be AdvoCats. It is a year long committment and students earn 2 upper division credits throughout the year in a training course. The AdvoCat Seminar focuses on tour training and developing tour information about MSU's academics and special programs available to students. AdvoCats also help with MSU Fridays (March MSU Friday hosted over 1,000 prospective students) and attending other recruitment activities on campus and even around the state.

In addition to recruitment activities, it is also a great way to connect with other MSU students. We have all kinds of fun activities throughout the year like procrastinator movie nights, sledding, dinner at President Cruzado's home and pizza @ colombos.

Pick up your 2010-2011 AdvoCat Application at Ask-Us or the Office of Admissions (SUB 201). They are due on Friday, April 16th by 5pm. When you return them, you can sign up for a group interview next week.

You can also find your application online at www.montana.edu/admissions/advoapp.pdf. We are looking forward to seeing your application!

AdvoCat Museum of the Rockies Tour

Last week the AdvoCats went on a behind the scenes tour of the Museum of the Rockies. We traveled into the basement and actually held a dinosaur fossil! The Museum of the Rockies lobby was recently rennovated, and work is also being done upstairs to create a new childrens exhibit area. It was fun to go behind closed doors and see the work that was being done at MOR. Even undergraduate paleo students were working on cleaning fossils!

Largest MSU Friday EVER!

On March 12, 2010 we broke a record! Previously the largest amount of visitors on campus for our MSU Friday preview program was 740. We knew we had broken that record after the morning registration had ended, and we estimated about 890 people were on campus. The AdvoCats did a great job of leading large tours around campus, directing groups to other locations, answering questions and hosting student and parent panel discussions. It was the Friday before spring break and we needed all hands on deck for this crowd! At the end of the day with everyone accounted for we ended up with a final head count of 1,020 visitors on campus! Thanks for all of your hard work AdvoCats!

Spring Semester Tour Guides

We have a ton of excellent tour guides this semeter. In fact, you can see all of the advocats by following this link, http://www.montana.edu/admissions/tourguides.shtml. The spring is when we have our biggest volume of campus visitors, so these spring tour guides keep busy with their tours and usually have a good size group to show around campus! High school seniors are visiting schools that they have been accepted to and are making their final college decisions. We also have quite a few juniors who are getting an early look at their colleges, and everyone is probably taking advantage of the skiing discounts offered to campus visitors too!

Below are some of the photos of our tour guides for the semester:







Doesn't that make you want to go on a campus tour? Keep up the great work AdvoCats!

Advocat Sledding!

As Advocats, we don't just give tours and host MSU Fridays, we also have a lot of fun together! Next week, we are meeting up after our weekly class and heading over to Pete's Hill for some sledding action. After Spring Break, we are going together and play some Guitar Hero, Wii Sports and have a good time over at Ren's house. Look for applications coming out soon!

Engineering Complex Tour

Yesterday, the Advocats went on a tour of the engineering buildings lead by the Engineering Ambassadors. We looked at all sorts of things, from machines that crush concrete columns, 3D printers, automated lawn mowers and a micro-fabrication lab. The picture shows one of the Advocats holding up his key which he had coated in a polymer coating by the machine to his right.




Advocats also take tours of other places around the campus, including the Visual and Communications Building, Museum of the Rockies, and the mysterious steam tunnels. We learn a lot about places on campus so we can be informed will giving our regular tours. If you are interested in becoming an Advocat, look for applications that will come out this spring!

MSU Friday - January 29th

In just two short days, MSU will be flooded with enthusiastic prospective students and parents! We are getting prepared for 700+ students and families to attend MSU Friday.


MSU Friday is one of the best parts of being an AdvoCat. We have special shirts to wear so that we can be easily identified, and of course our awesome nametags! Giving tours in the morning is just one of the tasks of the day. We also help direct the groups around campus for meetings, lead student and parent panels, answer questions at the info table and eat lunch with visiting students and families. It is a busy, fun-filled day that usually starts at 7am with decorating the ballrooms and hanging signs.

Typically, the March MSU Friday is the largest program of the year, but our January program is a close second. Many of these families will spend the weekend visiting Bridger, Big Sky or Moonlight Basin too! The AdvoCats are gearing up for our second MSU Friday this Friday, Jan. 29th!